The board has caught up on expensive bridge projects, Craig said, and can turn its attention back to roads.

Trustees could have chosen to go with a gravel surface, but turned down that option for two reasons.

They figure that Packard Road residents would be unhappy going from pavement to gravel. Also, Craig said, asphalt is cheaper to maintain. Gravel requires much more frequent maintenance through grading, gravel addition and dust control.

The board has heard from some residents about tree removal concerns. Whenever a road is upgraded by the county, the surface is widened, if necessary, to meet existing standards. This is likely to result in some tree cutting.

“We understand that some of those trees must be over 100 years old and we don’t want to cut them down if we don’t have to,” Craig said. “Where we can, we’ll go around them.”

He said that in many cases, the road can veer slightly if it’s not too extreme and if there aren’t more trees on the opposite side of the road.

At least one resident still expects that trees left standing will be injured by root damage from the widening of the road.

Craig responded to a rumor that the paving work is in response to a request by Vreba-Hoff Dairy.

“That’s completely untrue,” he said. “As far as any of our maintenance or reconstruction, the dairy hasn’t played any role.”

Vreba-Hoff paid for the Dillon Highway paving project and subsequent maintenance has followed routine practices.

Craig hopes the work will get started this fall. After culverts are replaced, new base will be laid and allowed to settle —with added compaction through several months of traffic—before asphalt is laid.